Hall elements are magnetic field sensors which are based on the Hall effect and provide an electrical output signal which is proportional to a predetermined component of the magnetic field. A Hall sensor comprises a Hall element or a cluster of Hall elements and an electronic circuit for operating the Hall element(s) and for evaluating the output signals of the Hall elements. The Hall sensor is manufactured as an integrated circuit which is embedded in a semiconductor chip. The semiconductor chip is packaged in a housing. Hall elements have an offset which arises from process- and geometry-related variations. The offset can be effectively minimized by connecting a plurality of Hall elements in parallel (cluster) and/or by operating using the known spinning current method. This is known from numerous patent documents, for example, WO 0118556, EP 548391, and DE 4302342.
The semiconductor chip packaged in the housing is subjected to mechanical stresses which depend on environmental influences such as temperature and humidity. The varying mechanical stresses cause changes in the offset of the Hall elements, as well as changes in the sensitivity of the Hall elements due to the piezo-Hall effect. Changes in the offset are effectively suppressed using the measures described above. In order to compensate for the changes in sensitivity, it is known, for example, from DE 10154495, DE 10154498, DE 102004003853, DE 102008051949, to use a stress sensor which detects the mechanical stresses, and to use its output signal to compensate for the change in sensitivity of the Hall elements caused by the piezo-Hall effect.